The Twins got a "workhorse" when they signed free-agent starter Ricky Nolasco to a four-year, $49 million contract, his former manager Mike Redmond said Tuesday.

"He stayed healthy for us, he made all the starts, and he gives you a great effort," Redmond said. "He competes, grinds it out. He's a great teammate in the clubhouse. He's a nice addition for the Twins' pitching staff."

Nolasco, 30, was 5-8 with a 3.85 earned-run average for Redmond's Miami Marlins in 2013 before they traded him to the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he went 8-3 with a 3.52 ERA.

Redmond, who caught for the Twins for five seasons, had Nolasco in his first season as a major league manager.

"He knows how to pitch," Redmond said. "He's pitched in some big games, and he's logged a lot of innings. For the short time that I had him, he was great. He did everything we needed him to do.

"With him, every five days we knew we had a chance to win, and that's probably what the Twins saw in him, as well."

Surprisingly, the Twins didn't contact Redmond for a scouting report on Nolasco before they signed him. They would have gotten a good one.

"He's a reliable starting pitcher, and that's what you need," Redmond said. "And he was great with our young pitchers, too. He's a leader."

Phil Hughes, who is expected to receive a $24 million, three-year contract from the Twins this week, pitched three times against the Twins for the New York Yankees at Target Field, local baseball historian-official scorer Stew Thornley points out.

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Hughes beat the Twins 8-1 in August 2011, allowing two hits and striking out two in 7 2/3. The next season, he lost to the Twins 5-4 in September, giving up six hits in 6 2/3 innings while striking out four.

Last July, Hughes beat the Twins 7-3, going seven innings while giving up six hits and striking out three. Overall against the Twins at Target Field the past three seasons, he was 2-1 in 21 1/3 innings, giving up five earned runs, walking six and fanning nine with a 2.11 ERA.

It should also be noted, however, that the Twins teams Hughes faced lost a cumulative 297 games.

The Twins, by the way, will receive an additional $25 million from Major League Baseball's national TV deals, meaning they'll be getting $54 million just in shared MLB national TV revenue in 2014.

That alone will more than pay for next season's salaries of Nolasco, Hughes, Joe Mauer ($23 million) and Josh Willingham ($7 million).

The Twins also have local TV and radio media deals annually worth about $15 million.

The Twins haven't retired 1991 World Series championship hero Jack Morris' No. 47 jersey. Nolasco grabbed the number when he saw it was available because, he said, it was given to him as a rookie and it's the number he's worn his entire career.

Nolasco learned it was Morris' number when he brother told him.

"So I've got some shoes to fill," he said.

Major league baseball officials are in town from New York this week meeting about next July's All-Star Game at Target Field.

Former North Star-Fighting Saint Paul Holmgren, the Philadelphia Flyers general manager who was in town Monday to watch his team play the Wild, celebrated his 58th birthday with two grandchildren at the Downtowner, his regular eatery when in St. Paul.

It's official: Louie Nanne, the former Edina High hockey star who decommitted from the Gophers and is a Wild seventh-round draft pick, has committed to RPI for the fall of 2014. The left wing, 19, began playing for Sioux Falls in the USHL last weekend and had an assist and two penalty minutes in his first game.

The life-size bronze statue of Minneapolis Lakers legend George Mikan inside the entrance of Target Center will be moved to the new entrance on the north side of the arena as part of a $100 million renovation.

The U.S. Junior National hockey roster team that will be announced Wednesday will hold its training camp Dec. 15-18 at Mariucci Arena and Dec. 19-23 in Angelholm, Sweden. Practices will be open to the public. The World Junior tournament will be Dec. 26-Jan. 5 in Malmo, Sweden.

Condolences to the family of former Gophers hockey player and hall of fame prep coach Norb Robertson and son Billy Robertson, the classy former Wild VP, on the passing of Norb's beloved wife, who died at age 89 last weekend.

DON'T PRINT THAT

Pssst: Free-agent catcherA.J. Pierzynski turned down an offer of an estimated $8 million from the Twins to sign a similar one-year deal with the Boston Red Sox.

The best bet now is that the Gophers on Sunday evening will receive an invitation to the Texas Bowl in Houston on Dec. 27 for a rematch against Texas Tech. Other opponents could be Kansas State or Boston College. Minnesota will provide players with commemorative bowl rings.

Rather than try to influence him, the Tampa Bay Lightning will leave it up to Gophers sophomore goaltender Adam Wilcox to decide whether he wants to turn professional after the season.

Despite a fractured tibia, don't count former Gophers defenseman Paul Martin of the Pittsburgh Penguins out for the U.S. Olympic hockey team that will compete in Sochi, Russia, in February.

OVERHEARD

Twins GMTerry Ryan, asked what it was about free agent Ricky Nolasco that made the Twins target him: "We need starting pitching badly, and there wasn't anything that we didn't like about him."